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Nelson Van Alden
Nelson Van Alden (1889-1931) was an American Bureau of Prohibition and Bureau of Internal Revenue federal agent during Prohibition. Van Alden was forced to flee to Illinois in 1921 after murdering his corrupt partner, Eric Sebso, and he used the alias George Mueller in his new hometown of Cicero. Van Alden raised a family of two children with his "wife", a Norwegian immigrant, and he worked for the Chicago Outfit after previously working as an iron salesman and a member of Dean O'Banion's gang. Van Alden was killed by undercover FBI agent Mike D'Angelo before he could kill Al Capone, as Van Alden was about to reveal that the FBI was indicting him as a taunt against him. Biography Nelson Van Alden was born in upstate New York in 1889, coming from a family of Dutch origin. Van Alden was a devout Protestant, and he married a woman named Rose, living with her in New York for years. Van Alden decided to become a federal agent with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (now known as the Internal Revenue Service), a life that his wife loved for him, as she believed that he was doing God' work. Van Alden accepted an assignment to hunt down bootleggers in Atlantic City, New Jersey at the start of Prohibition on 8 January 1920, with Agent Eric Sebso as his partner. Van Alden and Sebso, supervised by Supervisor Elliot, attempted to close down the scores of distilleries in Atlantic City, and they made the local post office into their headquarters. Van Alden formulated a theory that County Treasurer Enoch Thompson was at the center of a large bootlegging ring, and he attempted to bring him down several times. He nearly tied Thompson's minion Jimmy Darmody to the Hammonton ambush, but Agent Sebso murdered witness Billy Winslow, preventing the trial from going ahead and leading to Darmody's release. Van Alden's investigation was derailed, and he drowned Agent Sebso for his incompetence. Van Alden resumed working for the Bureau with Joel Clarkson and Stan Sawicki as his partners, and Chicago Outfit Alden fled the state due to the renewed murder charges, becoming an outlaw himself. Van Alden and his daughter, the product of an extramarital affair with Nucky Thompson's mistress Lucy Danziger, moved into a house in Cicero, Illinois, and Van Alden married the Norwegian immigrant nanny Sigrid Mueller. Nelson Van Alden took on the pseudonym of "George Mueller", and he worked as an iron salesman for months. Van Alden befriended Dean O'Banion when he thwarted an assassination attempt on him at his flower shop, and Van Alden worked for both O'Banion and Al Capone as a bagman. Van Alden would later decide to work for Capone and his brothers Ralph Capone and Frank Capone, and he was involved in attacking US Democratic Party voters during the town elections of 1924. Frank Capone was killed by policemen sent by O'Banion, and Van Alden decided to set up O'Banion for Capone's men to murder. Van Alden became a trusted Chicago Outfit member under Capone, making collections from businesses and becoming a gangster to provide for his growing family. Downfall pulling Van Alden's body off of Al Capone]]By 1931, Van Alden was unhappy, however, as his wife was always angry at him, and he had to deal with issues created by his new coworker Eli Thompson, who had been exiled from Atlantic City after murdering agent James Tolliver and working with federal agents against his brother. Van Alden and Thompson were both arrested by undercover FBI agent Mike D'Angelo one day in 1931, and D'Angelo told the two of them that they had to steal ledgers from Capone to help in the tax evasion indictment against the crime boss. Van Alden and Thompson were caught by Ralph Capone and his men, and Van Alden attempted to kill Al Capone when he showed up with actors Paul Muni and George Raft. Van Alden told Capone his true identity and threatened to reveal that the FBI was going to indict him, so D'Angelo shot Van Alden through the back of his head, tearing his right eye out. D'Angelo pretended that he had killed Van Alden to protect Capone from a federal agent, and he concealed the fact that he was just protecting the indictment from discovery. Category:1889 births Category:1931 deaths Category:American policemen Category:Policemen Category:Americans Category:Dutch-Americans Category:Protestants Category:Killed Category:Chicago Outfit Category:People from New York Category:People from Chicago Category:People from Illinois Category:Prohis Category:IRS Category:People from Cicero